Stephen R. Caiola

Stephen Caiola

(Social Security

Pioneer)

Stephen R. Caiola, a lifelong resident of the Akron area, passed away Oct. 1, 2003, af ter an extended battle with cancer. He was 86.

While family and church came first in his life, Mr. Caiola may be remembered best for his enduring contribution to the Social Security Administration, which he served energetically for 33 years. He joined the federal agency in 1938, shortly after its creation by the Roosevelt Administration. He served the agency as a field representative, traveling Ohio extensively to educate civic groups, classrooms, and individual citizens about the operation of the new program. Driving his own car, often for late evening sessions in rural settings far from his Akron home, Mr. Caiola was remembered as an effective public speaker with a knack for humor and for making bureaucratic complexity easily understandable to everyday Ohioans, with whom he connected easily all his life. The pioneering efforts of the agency's early foot soldiers like Steve Caiola helped give the Social Security pro gram the immense popularity it enjoys today.

As with so many others of "the greatest generation," Mr. Caiola's career was interrupted by World War II, during which he served his country honorably in the Army Air Corps. At the war's end, he returned to his Social Security post, retiring in 1972. He then spent seven years working as a loan officer at the North Akron Savings Association. Throughout his life, and especially in his retirement, he was an active volunteer, giving time selflessly to St. Thomas Hospital, Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital, St. Joseph Nursing Home, Meals on Wheels, St. Vincent DePaul Society, and various activities of the Knights of Columbus, of which he was a prominent member.

Mr. Caiola graduated in 1935 from Akron North High School and received business training from Actual Business College in Akron. Devoutly religious all his life, he was an active parishioner at St. Hilary's Catholic Church, where, among other things he served as a eucha ristic minister and founded the suc cessful "50-Plus Club."

Mr. Caiola is survived by his devoted wife of 62 years, Elizabeth (whom he called "the wind beneath my wings"), and their extended family of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The three children are Stephen Caiola of Chapel Hill, N.C., Cynthia Collins of Beverly Hills, Mich., and Carol Gwirtz of Cleveland Heights; the eight grandchildren, Jeffrey Caiola, Karen Kleiman, Gregory Caiola, Matthew Collins, Sarah Collins, Stephen Collins, Nathan Gwirtz, and Vincent Gwirtz; and the five great-grandchildren, Cameron and Kenley Kleiman, Ellis and Marie Caiola, and Jacqueline Collins. His entire family and all of the many people whose lives Steve Caiola touched will remember him fondly.

Calling hours FRIDAY from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Dunn-Quigley Ciriello & Carr, Fairlawn Chapel, 39 S. Miller Rd. Mass of Christian Burial at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Hilary's Catholic Church. Entombment at Holy Cross Cemetery. The family suggests memorials to the Hospice of Visiting Nurse Service, 3358 Ridgewood Rd., Akron, Ohio 44333, or the St. Vincent DePaul Society at St. Hilary's, 2750 W. Market St., Fairlawn, Ohio 44333.



Fairlawn, 330-867-7306

www.dqccfh.com

Please sign the guestbook at www.ohio.com/obituaries